White House: That round of golf after the Foley video was released doesn’t show the depth of Obama’s griefposted at 11:21 am on August 22, 2014 by Allahpundit

Oh, I don’t know. He seems pretty grief-stricken here, no?

T. Becket Adams @BecketAdamsFollow

"Aides said the golf game did not reflect the depth of his grief over Mr. Foley." -- NYT, 08-21-14.11:33 PM - 21 Aug 2014

Ask yourself this, though. Is “optics” really just a Beltway parlor game? My hunch about most low-information voters, a.k.a. most voters, is that they’d struggle to name who the vice president is when asked. We’re lucky if they’re cognizant of what happened to James Foley at all, let alone Obama’s reaction to it.

Quote

“As a general rule, I think that he’s right that you can’t be held hostage to the news cycle — the man deserves a bit of downtime,” said Jim Manley, a longtime Democratic strategist. “But in this particular instance, I think a lot of Democrats flinched a little bit.”

The video, Mr. Manley added, “was just so shocking that the idea that he was going to immediately run to the golf course was just a little too much for folks; it was tone-deaf.”

Mr. Obama has traditionally resisted what he sees as the empty political gesture of abruptly upending his schedule in reaction to the latest crisis. Aides said the golf game did not reflect the depth of his grief over Mr. Foley, noting that the president had just spoken with his parents that morning. “His concern for the Foleys and Jim was evident to all who saw and heard his statement,” said Jennifer Palmieri, the White House communications director…

For Mr. Obama, the video of Mr. Foley’s death is acutely personal because it showed one of three other American civilians held hostage, Steven J. Sotloff, suggesting he would be killed next if the president did not stop bombing ISIS targets in Iraq. “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” the masked killer says while holding the back of Mr. Sotloff’s orange, prison-style shirt.

Many factors conspired to make O’s golf outing seem distasteful — the brutality of the Foley video, the fact that David Cameron quit his own vacation in response to it, the contradiction in Obama’s vowing to be “relentless” against ISIS before proceeding immediately to the first hole. But the coda to the video showing Sotloff being menaced was the coup de grace politically, I think. Obama shouldn’t (and won’t) give in to ISIS’s demands to stop the bombing in order to spare Sotloff’s life but “fore” is not the proper response when you’re given an ultimatum that involves a man’s head being sawed off. And of course it reinforced the perception that this guy simply doesn’t much like his job anymore. If watching jihadis decapitate an American citizen isn’t enough to interrupt your recreation, what is?

But listen: Precisely because there are so many low-information voters out there, I think he’s dead right in how he’s calculated the cost/benefit in all of this. Namely, there’s no cost. Most people won’t care, some who do will forget about it literally tomorrow, and the people who’ll remember it forever were stalwart Obama critics in the first place. Have a look at his job approval ratings over the past two weeks or so if you doubt me. Conservatives have been hammering him for seeming disengaged since he landed on the Vineyard, more than a week before the Foley video was released. Michael Brown was killed on August 9; protests in Ferguson went on for days while Obama golfed. The campaign against ISIS also started rolling, with the fate of the Mosul Dam in the balance. He golfed on. Russia threatened to invade Ukraine and Israel’s attempts to contain Hamas wore on too, and still he golfed. Surely the public would react badly to a president frittering away his time on a famously elitist game while the world burned, right? Welp:

The top graph is the RCP poll average (black line = approve, red line = disapprove), the bottom is Gallup’s daily tracker (light green = approve, dark green = disapprove). It could be that a backlash is coming and has simply been delayed for whatever reason, but so far, his job approval’s actually risen slightly since his little Martha’s Vineyard Pro-Am started. And really, that’s not surprising. By year six, most presidents are so overexposed and their shtick so fatiguing to the public that they may actually benefit from dropping off the public’s radar for awhile. Couple that with the fact that O has ordered some high-profile action while in the clubhouse — sending Holder to Ferguson, bombing ISIS, and making occasional brief statements about both subjects — and he may have found a comparatively comfortable spot in public opinion right now. And of course, both Ferguson and ISIS are subjects that don’t (or shouldn’t) invite an obvious partisan response. In ordering action on both, he gets to play the above-the-fray statesman who wants to solve America’s problems instead of the guy who’s constantly whining about Republicans. That’s helping his numbers too. Go figure that he’s not worried about optics.

Isn't "low information" just another way of calling somebody "stupid?"

Yet isn't it also stupid, to call somebody stupid when you can gain something you want, if you could convert them?

* * *

Not necessarily. It's all in the follow-through. Much of advertising is built around the premise of, to be blunt, telling people they're stupid and then telling them that your product will make them smart. From patent medicine to perfume, that's the basic advertising model.

The problem in this case is not necessarily calling the LIV "LIV" but in failing to follow through and show how voting republican will cure that condition.

Not necessarily. It's all in the follow-through. Much of advertising is built around the premise of, to be blunt, telling people they're stupid and then telling them that your product will make them smart. From patent medicine to perfume, that's the basic advertising model.

The problem in this case is not necessarily calling the LIV "LIV" but in failing to follow through and show how voting republican will cure that condition.

I suppose my point is that they won't be much interested in listening, after the obvious putdown.

FYI that and many more common sense notions, may be found in Dale Carnegie's 1936 book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." A summary follows:

1.Don't criticize, condemn or complain. 2.Give honest and sincere appreciation. 3.Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Part Two

Six ways to make people like you

1.Become genuinely interested in other people. 2.Smile. 3.Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. 4.Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. 5.Talk in terms of the other person's interests. 6.Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

Part Three

Win people to your way of thinking

1.The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. 2.Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong." 3.If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. 4.Begin in a friendly way. 5.Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately. 6.Let the other person do a great deal of the talking. 7.Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers. 8.Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view. 9.Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires. 10.Appeal to the nobler motives. 11.Dramatize your ideas. 12.Throw down a challenge.

Part Four

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

A leader's job often includes changing your people's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

1.Begin with praise and honest appreciation. 2.Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly. 3.Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person. 4.Ask questions instead of giving direct orders. 5.Let the other person save face. 6.Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise." 7.Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to. 8.Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct. 9.Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Upon reading this through, it immediately struck me how much these ideas are the opposite from the generally grumpy, negative postings on conservative forums. No wonder younger people tend to dismiss conservatism.

Reagan had the knack of making the story a good story. People were drawn to listen to him, and were confident he was leading them well.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Upon reading this through, it immediately struck me how much these ideas are the opposite from the generally grumpy, negative postings on conservative forums. No wonder younger people tend to dismiss conservatism.

Reagan had the knack of making the story a good story. People were drawn to listen to him, and were confident he was leading them well.

I dunno, t_s.................... I would describe you as kinda 'grumpy' most of the time.

Maybe you could learn a thing or two from Dale and the Gipper yourself.

Logged

Character still matters. It always matters.

May 3, 2016 - the day the Republican party left ME. I am now without a Party, and quite possibly without a country. May God have mercy!

Ignorance is not the same as stupidity. You could be absolutely brilliant and at the same time be extremely ignorant about some things.

As witness Obuttocks himself; while he's certainly not brilliant, he does possess a certain book learning intelligence but, as is abysmally clear, is also extremely ignorant about almost everything that really matters.

Obama: “The Golf Game Did Not Reflect the Depth of his Grief Over Mr. Foley”

Posted By Daniel Greenfield On August 22, 2014 @ 1:12 pm In The Point | No Comments

Golf is not really an ideal game for reflecting the depth of your grief. Now croquet, there’s a proper game for letting the world know just how miserable you are.

Sure it looks like Obama is laughing on the outside. But he’s weeping on the inside.

The video, Mr. Manley, a longtime Democratic strategist, added, “was just so shocking that the idea that he was going to immediately run to the golf course was just a little too much for folks; it was tone-deaf.”

Aides said the golf game did not reflect the depth of his grief over Mr. Foley.

For Mr. Obama, the video of Mr. Foley’s death is acutely personal because it showed one of three other American civilians held hostage, Steven J. Sotloff, suggesting he would be killed next if the president did not stop bombing ISIS targets in Iraq. “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” the masked killer says while holding the back of Mr. Sotloff’s orange, prison-style shirt.

This is grief with serious depth. Just look at that sad grieving fist bump. Sure it looks joyful on the outside, but clearly lacks the usual vim and vigor with which Obama fist bumps on the golf course after delivering a formulaic statement about the murder of an American.

There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.--January 27, 1838 Lyceum Address

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles.--August 27, 1856 Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan

Let us then turn this government back into the channel in which the framers of the Constitution originally placed it.--July 10, 1858 Speech at Chicago

There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.--January 27, 1838 Lyceum Address

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles.--August 27, 1856 Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan

Let us then turn this government back into the channel in which the framers of the Constitution originally placed it.--July 10, 1858 Speech at Chicago